Diving in india

[Pimelodous]

Does anyone know anything about diving in india or more specifically in the Andaman Islands? I'm going to be in india starting in mid-november for 2 months and would love to get a few dives in. Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[Norda]

I've wondered the same having been to India several times myself. However, my stays are not long enough to get in any diving.

Check out the Maldives, which is just south of India, not sure how far or what the cost would be to get there. Great diving from what I hear.

Bill.

 

[ssra30]

I looked a bit into Andaman Islands but found it rather difficult to get to. First, you can fly from Calcutta to the island but the air ticket is incredibly expensive. From where I live (Thailand), it only cost about $300 roundtrip to Calcutta but from Calcutta to to the island or wherever the closest airport is, it will cost 2-3 times my airticket from Bangkok to Calcutta. Secondly, if you plan to do diving from the island then it is not worth it. Some of my friends who went there mentioned that there are a lot of big fish but not much of coral reef or anything else so they found Maldives much less stressful to get to and much better accomodation.
To get the best of diving from Andaman Island, you will have to do live-aboard so you can get to some further and remote sites that you can't do from land-based operations. However live-aboards are rare and as far as I know, there are none locally since the diving season is only Jan-March. There are a few live-aboards that go there from Thailand but it is very rare as getting a permit to go to the island is hard to come by.

 

[blackice]

Interesting .. I'd never thought of diving in India .. I always think of it as an eating and relaxation type of holiday ... and by the sounds of it ... that might be the right sort of trip to take there...

 

[GratefulDiver]

I've always wanted to dive India. There are liveaboards out of Thailand but I think there is also an operator or two on the islands. Check out :

http://www.andamanscubaclub.com/

On the oter side of India you'll find the Lakshadweep islands.
This is one place I must visit some day.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/loki.sails/adv6.html

http://guides.travelindia.com/TI_Guides/Islands/islands_html/lakshadweep_snorkelling_scuba.html

http://www.nivalink.com/bangaram/

After all that you can stop off at the Ganges and cleanse your soul of any excess bad karma!

 

[Delhi Diver]

I went to the Andamans in December 1999. I snorkeled while my friends dived, since I hadn't been certified at the time. We were on Havelock Island.

The sea life was spectacular, the beaches white and the waters the range of colours from light green through dark blue. It was more spectacular than Cozumel, Mexico, for instance, with much richer marine life. Not that Cozumel is bad!

Since I was snorkeling, I didn't go very deep -- and can't compare the deeper waters to say Cozumel -- but my diving friend said that the Andamans had some of the best corals he has ever seen. This is someone who has been to the Maldives and Lakshadweep, as to Florida, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Since the Andamans are harder to get to for the average tourist, the infrastructure is more basic but the habitat is more pristine. At least you don't have to deal with cruiseliner loads of tourists.

 

[Delhi Diver]

Also check the Andaman and Nicobar Administration web site and click on the diving in the Andamans link.

A Google search will reveal some dive operators.

 

[nikk]

Probably the best diving in India is in the Lakshadweep Islands. Coral reefs, pelagics, great viz and best of all - yours is going to be the only dive boat in the ocean! The lakshadweep islands are an extension of the Maladives chain of islands. There are a couple of dive operators there: Lacadives who operate from two sites - Bangarama (un upmarket eco resort) and Kadmat (basic but v beautiful) and Goa divers who operate from Agatti the main island (which is also where the airport is situated).

Other than that, Goa also has some diving.

 

[Delhi Diver]

Here's some additional information about diving destinations in India, from a government web site.

http://www.tourismofindia.com/hi/divedestinations.htm

 

[queentrigger]

hi nikk,

have you done lakswadeep? i am really keen on it. is the diving worth it (comparable to maldives).? thanks